A chairmaker doesn't want to mislead his customers by making false claims in both his printed matter and website content.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is he selling to woodworkers or real customers? The difference between these joints is de minimus.
That's what they do. I honestly don't know how the diameter of a pin in a pinned tenon didn't make it into the argument, but it wasn't *I* who brought the whole farking pinned tenon into the argument. All I did was pass along a question which was asked, in all seriousness, in another forum (Woodweb).
I plead innocent on this one; I am just not that talented.... and even if I was, I would harness the evil powers to do good work for all mankind.
r (not my real initial)
Crap? You be the jugdge
You'll note that the frame around the core of the bench top has BIG dovetails - that are NOT glued - to allow for expansion and contraction of the bench top's coore as well as to permit them to be replaced when they get dinged up over the next 100 years. They're held vertically to the core with unglued splines - AllThread and nylon centered lock nuts secrure the front and rear aprons to the bench top core. I could turn walnut plugs to hide the lock nut heads - but I don't want to decieve anyone into thinking the front and back apron is pegged to the core. I went with AllThread and Lock Nuts because they were the strongest most secure means to securing the front and rear apron to the bench top core.
Would it shock you to know that many of the "pegs" and "through tenons" on many of the highly prized and quite expensive antique Stickely furniture hide screws that hold parts together - or - are strickly decorative plugs masquerading as pegs?
Would it surprise you to discover that some pretty high end chinese and indian furniture - use NO glue - AND - no pegs, relying on interlocking joinery - that can't be seen once the piece is assembled - but permit the piece to be dismantled and reassembled - IF you know where to start the disassembly?
I consider Yeung Chan a high end furniture maker. Check out his delicate looking, elegant chinese plant stand and chair. He brings them totally disassembled to some of his demonstrations
- assembles them and then sits on them and wiggles and rocks them. None of the joints open - AT ALL. No pegs - and no glue.
Now back to when to build so it'll last 100 years. Since kitchen and bathroom cabinets are typically replaced every 10 to 20 years why build them to hold up for 100 years? Using modern methods of joining and modern glues, who says today's pieces won't hold up - for a hundred years?
Should jonery that WILL hold up for a hundred years be THE criteria to distinguish "high end" pieces from "crap" pieces? Personally, I find most A&C / Stickley / Greene & Greene furniture to be too massive and not very aesthetically pleasing to the eye, nor comfortable to use. Same goes for Mission and Prairie furniture as well as most Mediteranean furniture. But that's just my taste.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Strength and the integrity of the joinery - that's an engineering and strength of materials issue. If the parts stay together - at least for my lifetime
- I don't care how they're done - if they work - and I don't have to see them.
If loose tenon joiniery will meet my needs - and I cut the mortises with a DOMINO I'm satisfied with my work.
Have a look at these bonsai display tables - made for outdoor use. Not really high end - but hardly crap either. They've been out in the weather, with bonsai on them that are watered several times a day during warm weather. Other than the redwood they're made of weathering to a grayish color, no joints have failed or opened - at all.
- in 15 minutes - at the most - thanks to the DOMINO - and the modern marvel - electricity.
Oh, and BTW - if this one's yours, you might want to hide the nail heads, be more carefull with the glue, at least ease some of the sharp edges and cut the molding miters a bit better - there shouldn't be visible gaps in mitered corners.
Craftsman designs but as you said, in the eye of the beholder.
I and others have certainly used screws to act as a pin and may hid the fact with a faux pin. Serves the same mechanical purpose.
Regarding the rustic pine piece you point out; it is just that, rustic. That line of furniture is called Petaluma Farmhouse and emulates pieces built by a farmer for his household a century ago. The reality is that fitting the mitered crown will be difficult for my customers because from the kit those pieces are pre-cut. If they build the box column perfectly and the wood moisture is good then they may get the miters to fit perfect. But it is likely they will have trouble getting all four sides to fit perfect. Therefore when I took the photos I found a side where it wasn't perfect on purpose so I am not overselling what can be accomplished.
The intent as some of the samples show is to slather these things with cheap paint and sand it off for a distressed look or use a crackle finish, etc. I provide some basic instruction son how to do those finishes with the kits.
One of the beauties of my Craftsman line (which isn't commercially available yet) is that due to the rectalinear (sp?) nature of that style it is easy to mill the kits in such a way as to allow kit assembly to produce near perfect results without need of commercial grade equipment to adjust any of the milled pieces.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.